An independent pub company is planning to open its first Midlands venue in Birmingham city centre.

Pint Shop runs pubs in Cambridge and Oxford and is now eyeing the 1860s listed building at 38 Bennetts Hill for its next launch, representing an investment of around £1 million by the firm.

The company was founded in 2013 by Richard Holmes and Benny Peverelli after the pair met while working for restaurant chain Leon and it now employs 85 staff across the two sites.

Mr Holmes said they were tempted by a launch in Birmingham after taking a walk around the city centre while attending a trade conference here last year.

"We are always asking ourselves 'where's next' so we had a look around Birmingham and were really impressed with what was going on, the amount of cranes we saw and all the development happening," he said.

Pint Shop's bar in Oxford

"It felt for a while as if Birmingham was being missed out by some of the operators and they were concentrating on opening in place like Leeds and Manchester.

"But now seems to be an exciting time for the city so we have spent more time there, scoping out locations and, when this property came up, it just felt like this was a great little place for us.

"It's a beautiful building with a great frontage and one of the first ones we looked at."

Pint Shop runs a bar area for drinking and snacking and a separate section for sit-down dining while the pubs stock a rotating roster of beers which are constantly changing and the menu consists of seasonal, mainly British dishes.

Read More

If given the green light by city planning chiefs, the new Bennetts Hill pub will initially open on the ground floor only where it will be able to seat around 100 guests and create up to 30 new jobs.

If successful, Mr Holmes said he hoped to bring the first floor into use where a further 60 guests could be seated and around ten further roles created.

Pint Shop is aiming to open a new venue in Birmingham by the end of 2018

A planning application has been lodged with Birmingham City Council to convert the grade II former office premises, which were also once a bank and have been vacant for several years, and the company is hoping to open by the end of 2018.